Car-door-operating mechanism.



B. T. PETERSON. GAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

ABPLI'OATI'ON FILED JUNE 10, 1914.

1, 1 32,683. Patented Mar. 23,

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anon 'r. rnrnason', or cnicaeo, rumors, assrenon or oNn-rriinn renew a.rnrnnson AND own-mien r WILLIAM a. MAXWELL, corn; or cruoaeo,

ILLINOIS.

c nnamonornna'rme MECHANISM.

- Specification of Letters Eatent.

Patented Mar. as, rare.

Application filed me in; 1914. Serial No. 844,139.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Bron T. PETERSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois," haveinvented certain newv and useful Improvements inCar-Door-Uperatslug-Mechanisms, of which the'following is aspecification.

This invention relates to devices for effecting the opening and closingof freightcar doors of that type wherein the door is suspended from -atrolley-rail above the door-opening, and. is slid ed ewise parallel withthe side wall of the car in efiecting the opening and closing movementsof the door. It is found in practice that, under various conditions, theopening and closing of these doors is a matter of considerabledifficulty. Not infrequently the contents of the car become jammed orwedged against the inner side of the door to such an extent as to makeit impossible to open the latter by manually pushing the same, is isdone under normal conditions. Again, in winter weather, the trolley-railand trolleys of the door become -more or less clogged with snow and ice,

causing the door to stick. Still again, after a freight car has seenconsiderable service,

the side wall of the car becomes more or less warped or the trolley-railgets out of true position, causing the trolley-wheels to become whollyor partially derailed. These and other causes which might be mentionedoften render the opening and closing of the door a matter ofconsiderablejdifiiculty; and

the general object of the present invention is to provide a-- simple,inexpensive, and

' easily manipulated device, by the manual manipulation of which apowerful leverage can be obtained to efiectthe opening and closingmovements of the door. By this same mechanism it is also possible tosecurel fasten the door in closed position, so that it cannot be openedeither without a proper key or, where a key-operated lock is notemplolyed, without destroying. the usual carsea My invention, its modeof use, and its advantages, will all be readily understood whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which I haveillustrated one practical embodiment of the invention, and in whichFigure 1 is afragmentary side elevation of a car, showing the car-doorin closed poenlarged sectional detail on the line 3-3 of I Fig. 2; andFig. 4 is a perspective elevation of the ratchet-operating pawls, whicharepreferably formed in a single or integral structure.

Referring to the drawing, 5 designates the side wall of the car-body, inwhich is formed the usual opening 6.

7 designates the door, suspended by hanger brackets 8 and trolley-wheels9 from a trolley-rail 10. mounted just above the door-opening; and 11designates a series of spaced guide or keeper lugs secured to the sidewall of the car-body below the dooropening and overlapping the loweredge of the door.- The parts as thus far described are, or may be, allas usual in car-doors of this type. Y

Secured-to the sidewall of the car-body above and below thedoor-opening, as by screws 12 passing through lateral lugs 13, are apair of upper and lower rack bars 14 and 15. Journaled in upper -andlower bearings 16 and 17 on the outer face of .the door 7 is a verticalshaft 18, fast on the upper and lower ends of which shaft are spur gears19 and 20 meshing with the rack bars 14 and 15, respectively. The shaft18 is secured in position by a pair of collars 21 and 22 keyed to theshaft above and below the upper bearing 16. Fast on a squared portion18' of the shaft 18 are a pair of oppositely facing ratchet-disks 23 and24.- located the former directly above the latter; and straddling theseratchet disks and pivotedon the shaft 18 is the forked inner end 25 ofan operating lever 25, said lever and the ratchet disks. being confinedon the shafta common hub through which the pivot pin or stud 28 passes.On the back of this hub is formed a seat 31 for one end of apawlcontrolling spring 32, the seat-engaging end of the spring beingconfined by a radially projecting stud.33, and the Opposite end of thespring abutting against the cross member of the fork and confined by astud 34. lVhen the pawl 29 is in engagement with the ratchet 23, thepawl 30 is, of course, in idle position relatively to its ratchet 24:,andthe p'awls are maintained in this position by the thrust of thespring 32 against one side of the stud 33. 'When the pawls are shifted,to the reverse position, indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, the spring32 engages theopposite side of the stud 33, and thus acts to hold thepawls insuch'reversed position. Obviously, other and equivalent springpawl-controlling means might be employed.

The outer end of the operating lever 25 is preferably formed with a slot35 which,

when the door is in; closed position, as shown in Fig. l, engages astaple 36 secured in the side wall of the ear adjacent to one edge ofthe door-opening, and the operating lever may be locked to the staple 36by'an ordinary padlock or, as herein shown, by a cotter pin 37, in whichcase the lower end of the cotter pin is preferably apertured to receivea car seal, indicated at 38.

In the operation of the mechanism, where the door may, from'one'or moreof a variety of causes, tend to stick, the operating lever 'is swunghack and forth with the pawl 29 engaged with the ratchet disk 23. Byreason of this mechanism, a very powerful leverage is obtained, tendingto move the door edgewise towardopen position. if, when the-door is tobe closed, it sticks and resists an ordinary manual push, the pawls 29and 30 are reversed to throw the pawl 30 into operative engagement withthe ratchet disk 24, and the operating lever 25 is similarly actuated toshift the door step by step to closed position. When the door is eitherclosed or open, the operating lever .25 can be swung to a positionparallel with and closely alongside the door, where it is out of the wayand not likely to he struck and injured by passing objects.

- By the use of my invention, a serious practical diihculty in themanipulation of car- @5 doors of this type, which from one cause or Ianother are more or less out of normal condition, is remedied. ll amaware that it has heretofore been proposed to employ dooroperatingmechanisms including a vertcial W shaftv journaled on the side wall ofthe car and provided with one or more rack and pinion connections to thedoor, and with a crank or hand-wheel for turning the shaft; but such amechanism is less efficient and 0 much harder to operate than themechanism menses herein disclosed, and in many situations could notperform the work of the latter.

ll claim:

1. The combination with a car body having a side opening, and a doormounted to slide across said opening, of rack-bars secured to the outerside of the side wall of the car above and below said opening, journalbearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper and loweredges of the latter, a vertical shaft mounted in said bearings andcarrying on its upper and lower ends spur gears meshing with saidrack-bars, and shaft-operating means secured to said shaft intermediatesaid bearings. 2. The combination with} a car body having a sideopening, and a door suspended from a trolley rail above said opening andadapted to slide across the latter, of rackbars secured to the outerside of the side wall of the car above and below said opening, ournalbearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper and loweredges of the latter, a vertical shaft mounted in said bearings andcarrying on its upper lower ends spur gears meshing with said rack-bars,shaft-operating means secured said shaft intermediate said bearings,keeper lugs secured to the side wall of the car body below /said openingand overlapping the lower edge of the door.

3. The combination with a car body having a side opening, and a doormounted to slide across said opening, of rack-bars secured to the outerside of the side wall of the car above and below said openings, journalhearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper-and loweredges of the latteri, a vertical shaft mounted in said bearings andcarrying on its upper and lower ends spur gears meshing with saidrack-baraIa'ratchet disk fast on said shaft intermediate said bearings,and an operating lever pivoted on said shaft and carrying a pawlengaging said ratchet disk.

l. The combination with a car body having a side opening, and a doormounted to slide across said opening, of rack-bars secured to the outerside of the side wall of the car above and. below said opening, ournalhearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper and loweredges of the latter, a vertical shaft mounted in said bearings andcarrying on its upper and lower ends spur gears meshing with saidrack-bars, a pair of oppositely facing ratchet disks fast on said shaftintermediate said bearings, an operating lever having a forked endpivoted to said shaft and straddling said ratchet disks, a pair ofrigidly connected pawls pivoted in the forked end of said lever forcoiiperation with said ratchet disks respectively, and a springoperative to hold either of said 'pawls in engagement with its ratchetdisk and simultaneously hold the other pawl in idle position.

5. The combination with a car body hav: ing a side opening, and a doormounted to slide across saidopening, of-rack-bars secured to the outerside of the side wall of the car above and below said opening, journalbearings on the outer side of the door adjacent to the upper and loweredges of the latter, a vertical shaft mounted in said bear ings andcarrying on its upper and lower ends spur gears meshing with saidrackbars, a ratchet disk fast on said shaft intermediate said bearings,an operating lever pivoted on said shaft and carrying a pawl engagingsaid ratchet disk, and means for securing the free end of said operatinglever to the side wall of the car opposite one vertical edge of saidopening when the door is in closed position.

I 6. In a car door operating mechanism, the combination with rack-barssecured to the outer side of the side wall of the car above and belowthe door opening, of a vertical shaft journaled on the door and carryingat its upper, and lower ends spur gears mesh- &

ing with said rack-bars, a ratchet disk fast slotted end of saidleverwhen the door is in closed position, and a cotter-pin for securing saidlever on said staple, said cotter-pin being apertured for theapplication of a car seal thereto.

' BROR T. PETERSON.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL N. Pom), W. J. MAXWELL.

' car adjacent to one vertical edge of the door opening and adapted tobe engaged by the

